WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HOLY

 

What does it mean to be holy?

Growing up we've all heard the phrase "holier-than-thou", which is used to demean someone for behaving in a manner that is deemed more righteous than everyone else.  Anyone who refuses to go along with the crowd in taking part in something immoral or that is considered unethical, are labeled as "holier-than-thou" because they decided to stand firm on moral, godly principals.

According to pastor and theologian, the late R.C. Sproul, for most people, the term "holy" or "holiness" gives off the idea of personal moral purity or personal righteousness.  And while that could be considered a secondary definition, the primary definition of "holy" is "separate; set apart; that which is different from something else." 

Our English word "holiday" comes from the words "holy day" because a holiday is a day that is more special than all other days.

When you read in the Old Testament when God was giving Moses the instructions for how the Tabernacle would be built, He included all the utensils that were to be used by the priests when they performed the sacrifices.  All those utensils were considered "holy".  God consecrated those utensils and declared them "holy" because they were to be set apart from those that were just common utensils.  They were to be used solely for the Temple worship and nothing else.  But there were at least two Gentiles who raided the Temple and took possession of those temple vessels and desecrated them:  Antiochus IV Epiphenes looted the Second Temple and slaughtered a pig on the altar.  King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon also took possession of those holy vessels and took them back to Babylon.

Holiness and sanctification are closely related.  At our conversion, we are declared "holy" (set apart for God), but even though we're declared holy this doesn't mean we attained some high-level standard of perfection.  We will never attain that on this earth, but we do go through what's called "progressive" sanctification.  This is what's referred to as "growing in spiritual maturity".  Sanctification is achieved through consistent Bible study, prayer, and obedience, and through this sanctification, we will see our behaviors change.  We find that things of this world we've clung to, we no longer desire them.  We trade in the things of this world for the things of God.

So, while the world sees us as "holier-than-thou", God sees us growing to be more like Christ, and as it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, our sanctification is "the will of God," and isn't that our goal anyway?